Defenseman Ty Smith still seeking first win with Penguins
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Thursday represented something of a professional milestone for Ty Smith: The young defenseman scored his first goal as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
That personal accomplishment didn’t cause Smith to lose perspective. Especially because his team lost 5-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“It’s always nice that I can contribute,” Smith said to media in Las Vegas. “But … it’s about wins and losses, and we didn’t win tonight.”
Recalled Dec. 28 for the first time since he joined the Penguins via a trade in July, Smith has seen nothing but losses in his first three NHL games with the team.
Thursday’s defeat might have been the worst of the trio, but it might have been Smith’s best game to date with the Penguins.
He logged a team-best 23 minutes, 36 seconds of ice time on 24 shifts and had four shots on six attempts and even blocked a shot. On the advanced metric front, he was on the ice for 20 shots attempts for and 15 against according to Natural Stat Trick.
And his goal was pretty slick, and he generated it by displaying some chemistry with the Penguins’ top line at 4:10 of the third period.
After hounding Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo into a turnover in front of the home bench, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby backhanded a cross-ice pass to linemate Jake Guentzel, who gained the offensive zone on the right wing. From just above the right circle, Guentzel left a drop pass and drove to the cage. Taking the puck, Smith surveyed for a shooting lane and lasered a far-side wrister past goaltender Adin Hill’s blocker.
Adding to the degree of difficulty on the shot was the fact that the left-handed Smith was playing the right side. He has been doing so for all three of his games with the club.
A rash of injuries to right-handed Jeff Petry and Kris Letang (who is also on a leave of absence to attend to his family following the death of his father) prompted the Penguins to give Smith a look on the starboard side. And much of that time in these three games has been spent with veteran left-hander Brian Dumoulin.
“He’s, obviously, really reliable,” Smith said of Dumoulin on Dec. 30. “He’s been around for a long time and he’s very good at what he does. He’s a good veteran who helps me out.”
Before Thursday’s game, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan offered frank assessment of Smith’s first two contests.
“Ty’s played a pretty solid game,” Sullivan said. “There’s been some ups and downs. Overall, I think he’s been competing hard. He’s trying to play to his strengths. He’s trying to use his stick skills and his smarts. Those are his biggest attributes to win puck battles, to help us get out of our end, to defend along the offensive blue line, in particular, just distributing the puck. That’s an important aspect of our power play. He’s had some moments where he’s been pretty good. Then other moments where we’d like him to execute a little bit better, a little bit quicker. You could probably say that about a lot of players. I don’t think that’s any different. But overall, I think he’s competing hard out there.”
A gifted offensive talent, Smith’s biggest area in need of improvement, even by his own admission, remains defense.
“He has to be a guy that plays to his strengths,” Sullivan said. “He’s going to defend using his stick detail, his skill level, his quickness, his brain, understanding leverage points, things of that nature. It’s an important aspect of learning how to defend is how to defend using your strengths.
“We talk with all of our players, our defensemen in particular. And everybody is a little bit different. Some guys do it using brawn. Other guys do it using mobility and stick skills and smarts. … He’s making strides there.”
One area Smith would like to make a considerable stride in?
Getting a victory as a member of the Penguins.
“Everyone wants to win,” Smith said. “It’s a little frustrating when it doesn’t happen.”
Note: The Penguins had a scheduled day off Friday.